The Bridge, Vera and David Walliams: The Genius Of Dahl: Weekend TV Picks

TV preview: New Scandiwegian crime drama The Bridge tries to usurp The Killing, Vera returns for another series and David Walliams explores The Genius Of Dahl on the telly this weekend.

The Bridge is the real deal, but can it usurp The Killing as Scandiwegian crime drama of the moment? (Picture: BBC)

The Bridge, BBC4, Saturday, 9pm & 10pm

On paper this sounds like The Killing meets Wallander: a crime co-production between Denmark and Sweden that kicks off with a corpse on the bridge that links the two countries. But The Bridge has a dark and twitchy personality all of its own, with mismatched cops Norén, Swedish, and Rohde, Danish (Sofia Helin and Kim Bodnia), forging a prickly chemistry as they unpick the bones of a grisly case.Vera, ITV1, Sunday, 8pm

Brenda Blethyn returns as DCI Vera Stanhope, two parts detective to one part bag lady, whose shambling persona masks a steely-eyed resolve and a sharp mind as she brings the criminals who dare to venture on to her north-east beat to heel. The first case reunites her with her first sergeant – but time has not been kind.Perspectives – David Walliams: The Genius Of Dahl, ITV1, Sunday, 10.15pm

David Walliams takes time off from cosying up with Simon Cowell on Britain’s Got Talent to pay tribute to master children’s author Roald Dahl, a writer a new generation is discovering thanks to the multi-award-winning Matilda The Musical. Walliams visits the hut where Dahl beavered away on his books and chats to fellow fans, including Tim Minchin and Joanna Lumley. Keith WatsonFilm choice: Smash, Sky Atlantic, Saturday, 10pm

Steven Spielberg executive produces this razzle-dazzle musical drama, built around the trials and tribulations, bitchings and ass-kissing associated with launching a Broadway musical (and based on the life of Marilyn Monroe). Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston and Jack Davenport – meeting the legal requirement for every US drama to boast a token Brit – do the acting honours in-between the song and dance numbers.